Public Assistance - Pre-Declaration - Gina Valentine - Mass.Gov

Massachusetts Emergency
Management Agency
Public Assistance: Pre-Declaration Process
In coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Public Assistance (PA) Program
Under the PA Program, which is authorized by the
Stafford Act, FEMA awards grants to assist State and
local governments and certain private non-profit
(PNP) entities with the response and recovery from
disasters.
The intent of the Stafford Act is that Federal
assistance be supplemental to local, State, and
private relief organizations.
Funding is cost shared at a federal share of no less
than 75% of eligible costs.

Federal, State, & Local Roles in PA
• FEMA is responsible for managing the Program, approving
grants, and providing technical assistance to the State and
Applicants.
• The State acts as the Grantee for the PA Program. The State
educates potential applicants, works with FEMA to manage
the Program, and is responsible for monitoring and
disbursing the grants awarded under the PA Program.
• Applicants are responsible for identifying damage and
providing sufficient data for FEMA to develop an accurate
scope of work and cost estimate for doing the work and
approving grants.

Disaster
Event
IDA
Kick-off
Meeting
Formulation
of Projects
Subgrantee
PDA
Governor’s
Request
RPA
Project
Review
Grantee
Declaration
Applicant
Briefings
Approval of PW
Funding
Obligated

• IDA’s are the first step in the multi-step process of determining whether the
State and its counties may be eligible to receive federal disaster assistance
under a Presidential declaration as a result of a disaster event.
• The IDA Form is sent out via e-mail by each MEMA Region to their lead Point
of Contact(s) within each community. It can be completed electronically and
e-mailed or faxed back to MEMA Headquarters. It’s always important to look
at the entire workbook when completing an IDA form, as there are multiple
tabs in the Excel spreadsheet at the bottom, including detailed instructions.
Each community should submit one Public Damage IDA Form and one
Residential/Business Damage IDA Form.
• For Public Assistance, the primary purpose for issuing IDA’s is to gather initial
estimates of the costs associated with debris removal, emergency protective
measures, and the repair/replacement of damaged or destroyed public
infrastructure.

• For Individual Assistance and Small Business Administration evaluation,
information on damages to residential/business property is requested.
In evaluating damages, the primary factor considered is overall
IMPACTS to residents and businesses. Therefore when completing this
report please include all information (i.e. street name, type of
residence, type of damage, insurance if known, and any special
considerations such as impacts to elderly or other vulnerable
populations, etc.).
• Please coordinate this IDA reporting effort with all appropriate staff
and departments from your community. MEMA requests that this
information be consolidated and submitted on one IDA Report.
• MEMA usually gives a deadline of one week to complete & return the
IDA’s. This is crucial as the State only has 30 days from the date of the
disaster to request a Presidential Declaration. IDA information will
determine whether there is a basis for engaging in the second step of
the eligibility process – the formal MEMA/FEMA joint Preliminary
Damage Assessments (PDA’s).

SAMPLE IDA – Public Damage

SAMPLE IDA – Residential/Business Damage

• PDA’s are conducted when there has been sufficient information regarding costs incurred
from a disaster provided to the State from the local communities to warrant a FEMA visit to
the town to verify these costs.
• A PDA team typically consists of a MEMA and FEMA Rep, coordinating with a local EMD or
town member. If necessary, Mass Dot, Army Corps, Coastal Zone Mgmt, or other agencies
may be present on the team as well.
• The final official PDA PA #’s reported by the FEMA Rep on the PDA Team will be what goes
toward a county’s threshold. PDA information is used by the Governor to support a
declaration request - showing the cost of response efforts, such as emergency personnel
overtime, other emergency services, and damage to citizens, is beyond state and local
recovery capabilities and resources.
• The PDA team will only visit the most severely impacted areas within a community, but
recovery costs related to ALL storm damage will need to be provided to FEMA during the PDA.
• Not every city/town within a county will receive a PDA; however if the county gets declared,
ALL communities and their costs will be submitted to FEMA for eligibility review

•These thresholds are set by
FEMA every October using the
most recent census and per
capita information.
Effective Fiscal Year 2013:
•Statewide per capita - $1.37
•Countywide per capita - $3.45

• Responsibilities of the Local PDA Team Member:
– Provide a list of all disaster-related damage sites
and facilities
– Pre-identify the sites that the PDA team will visit,
keeping in mind that they should be touring the
most severely impacted areas
– Guide and accompany PDA Team to damaged sites
– Cost estimation data for all disaster-related work
– Provide insurance information, codes and
standards, historic, ordinances, and/or other
information

• In advance to the PDA Team’s arrival please have available estimated
and/or actual storm costs. The types of expenses your community may
have incurred are listed below. Please use the below guide for
calculating your estimated and/or actual storm costs:
– FORCE ACCOUNT LABOR – If available, provide copies of payroll reports,
timesheets (overtime only)
– FORCE ACCOUNT EQUIPMENT - type of piece of equipment that was
operated during the storm period (regular time and overtime)
– MATERIAL – identifies the actual quantity of materials used during the
storm cleanup period
– RENTED EQUIPMENT - identifies equipment that was rented for this storm
event only
– CONTRACT SERVICES - summarize and document contracted work
assistance for this storm event
– If available, provide photographs, maps, gps coordinates

RECORD KEEPING
�Be Prepared: Keep a copy of the FEMA forms in town offices/vehicles within
each department, so the forms are ready to go whenever a disaster strikes.
�Be Thorough: During a disaster, make sure employees, contractors, etc know to
document who/what/where/when/how much.
�Be Consistent: After a disaster, designate one person (per department if
necessary) to keep track of potential projects. A simple manila folder labeled
properly with copies of all back up information for each project would be greatly
useful down the road.
�In order to get paid in full on any large project, FEMA & MEMA will need to see
100% of the back up documentation supporting the scope of work established
between the applicant and FEMA and written in the PW.

Governor’s Request for Federal Assistance
• As set forth in the Stafford Act, a Governor seeks a presidential declaration by
submitting a written request to the President through the FEMA regional office.
The Governor certifies that the combined local, county and state resources are
insufficient and that the situation is beyond their recovery capabilities. Following a
FEMA regional and national office review of the request and the findings of the
Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDA’s), FEMA provides the President an analysis
of the situation and a recommended course of action.
• For determining the need for federal supplemental aid, FEMA assesses a number
of factors to determine the severity, magnitude and impact of a disaster event,
including:
– Impact on the infrastructure of affected areas or critical facilities;
– Imminent threats to public health and safety;
– Impacts to essential government services and functions;
– Unique capability of Federal government;
– Dispersion or concentration of damage;
– Level of insurance coverage in place for homeowners and public facilities;
– Amount and type of damage (number of homes destroyed or with major damage);
– Available assistance from other sources (Federal, State, local, voluntary organizations);
– State and local resource commitments from previous, undeclared events
– Frequency of disaster events over recent time period.

MEMA Contact Information
Lorraine Eddy, Disaster Recovery Coordinator
lorraine.eddy@state.ma.us
508-361-4901 (cell)
Gina Valentine, Disaster Recovery Program Coordinator
gina.valentine@state.ma.us
508-820-2004 (office)
Paula Krumsiek, Disaster Recovery Contract Specialist
paula.krumsiek@state.ma.us
508-820-1424 (office)
Judy Whitcher, Individual Assistance
judy.whitcher@state.ma.us
508-820-2057 (office)
Mailing Address -- State Standard Contract Documents
400 Worcester Road, Framingham, MA 01702
Attention: Disaster Recovery

QUESTIONS ??